Transgender people to be part of risk reduction drives

Thiruvananthapuram: After multiple initiatives for the transgender community, the state is coming up with yet another unique initiative for the community members.
The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) and the social justice department have joined hands to launch a programme titled ‘Transgender and Queer Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction’, where in the community members will also be part of disaster management initiatives.
The KSDMA has constituted a state-level committee to steer the idea ahead.
To begin with, a two-day training programme will be conducted on Wednesday and Thursday in Thiruvananthapuram in which disaster management guidelines for transgender and queer inclusion will be formulated.
Earlier in 2020, Malappuram district disaster management authority had conducted a training programme for transgender people and queers in disaster risk reduction. The community members who were then deputed as volunteers during the Covid-19 pandemic were lauded for their work as volunteers.
The KSDMA has decided to develop this idea further after identifying this as one of the best practices for their inclusion into mainstream society.
A recent research has found that there are less than 10 countries that had participation of transgender and queer community in their official disaster policies. Even among those, only two policies were by the government themselves, the rest being through various NGOs.
The latest initiative is based on the policy that disaster risk reduction preparedness and response should be anchored in a human rights-based approach, where a person’s sexual or gender identity should not be a barrier to receive the assistance needed to recover from a disaster.
The state was the first to come up with a transgender policy in 2015, officially upholding the rights of transgender community members.